After a summer of historic industrial action across the rail sector, passengers must prepare for further 24 hours walk outs as further strike dates have been announced in relation to long-running working conditions and pay disputes.
Members of the union Aslef, working for eight different rail operators across the UK, have announced industrial action for Saturday 13th August. This date happens to coincide with big Premier League fixtures, seeing games hosted in Manchester, London, Birmingham, and Brighton being affected.
The Aslef industrial action will affect services from the operators below:
- Avanti West Coast
- CrossCountry
- Greater Anglia
- Great Western Railway
- Hull Trains
- LNER
- London Overground
- Southeastern
- West Midlands Trains
Timetables are due to be published on 9 August, but passengers are being advised to follow the latest travel advice, check before they set off and allow extra time for their journey.
Though the 24-hour strike action is only scheduled for the Saturday, services on Sunday 14th August will likely be affected from residual issues related to the day prior.
Chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, Steve Montgomery, said:
"We're really disappointed that the Aslef leadership has, for the second time in as many weeks, decided to impose yet more uncertainty for passengers and businesses by disrupting passengers' weekend plans.
"Like any service or business, things do not just stand still, and we must move with the times. We want to give our people a pay rise, as we know everyone is feeling the pinch due to the cost-of-living rises."
"I will reiterate what I've previously said - I am ready and willing to talk to the leadership of Aslef today, tomorrow or indeed any time next week."
Accompanying the Aslef industrial action, further strikes have also been announced from workers represented by RMT, seeing 24 hour walk outs scheduled for the 18th and 20th of August. The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) has also agreed to strike across seven train operators on those same dates.
The RMT strikes walkouts are expected to include 40,000 workers – around 20,000 from Network Rail, including signalling and track maintenance workers – and the remainder from 14 train operating companies. The companies involved are:
- Chiltern Railways
- Cross Country Trains
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Great Western Railway
- Northern Trains
- South Eastern
- South Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- Avanti West Coast
- West Midlands Trains
- GTR (including Gatwick Express)
- London Overground
- Great Western Railway
- Hull Trains
- London Northwestern Railway
Passengers across the UK are being advised to plan their journeys ahead to ensure journey’s face as little disruption as possible.
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